Indymedia takes on Israel (and the Nakba)

This Thursday marks the 60th anniversary founding of the state of Israel – also marked as the Nakba (the Disaster). The latter is the name given to the day by Palestinians, 700,000 of whom were driven from their homes – and many killed – upon the establishment of the Zionist state.

For the decades since, Palestinians have struggled against the myth that Israel was founded upon “a land without a people for a people without a land.” For the land indeed have a people, and they continue to struggle every day against what has become an apartheid regime in Occupied Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank.

Part of this struggle has included bringing accurate, on the ground news reporting to eyes and ears around the world. Mainstream, particularly North American, media has consistently proven to either consciously or subconsciously frame the conflict as one without concrete beginning, and therefore without a concrete solution. They ignore the very concrete initial error committed by European colonial powers, particularly Britain, in allotting Palestinian land for Israel in the first place. This willful ignorance allows them to continue to de-contextualise the conflict and place blame on those struggling against oppression, rather than an Israeli government that continues to perpetuate it through illegal settlements, apartheid walls and, let’s not forget, illegal occupation.

As part of the effort to swing the pendulum back the other way, a coalition of Middle Eastern and North American independent media outlets are organising Radio Free Palestine, an 18-hour broadcast focussing on the continued plight of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and around the world.

The broadcast, from 12:00am to 6:00pm Thursday, May 15th, is a initiative of the International Middle East Media Center in Bethlehem (Palestine), with the collaboration of CKUT 90.3fm in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), CHRY 105.5fm in Toronto (Ontario, Canada), CKDU 88.1fm in Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada), and KBOO 90.7fm in Portland (Oregon, USA) [Full disclosure: I am a regular contributor to CKUT’s La ledemain de la veille program on Thursday mornings – we’ll be pre-empted this week by Radio Free Palestine]. You can tune in live to any of the above mentioned stations, or listen live online through CKUT.

List of participating station and full press release, with contact information, after the jump.

RADIO FREE PALESTINE:
18-hour international radio broadcast on 60-years of Palestinian dispossession

MONTREAL, FRIDAY, MAY 9th — Join the International Middle East Media Center in Bethlehem (Palestine), in collaboration with CKUT 90.3fm in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), CHRY 105.5fm in Toronto (Ontario, Canada), CKDU 88.1fm in Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada), and KBOO 90.7fm in Portland (Oregon, USA) for a historic international radio reflection of the Palestinian Nakba or catastrophe, including contributions from Pacifica Radio and Democracy Now!

Next Thursday, May 15th, 2008, commemorates 60 years of the Palestinian Nakba. In 1948, eighty-five percent of Palestinians living in what is today the state of Israel became refugees. More than 500 Palestinian villages were depopulated and then destroyed to prevent the return of the displaced native population. 60-years later, there are upwards of 7 million Palestinian refugees dispersed throughout the world and Palestinians abroad are the world’s oldest and largest refugee population, making-up more than one fourth of all refugees. Israel continues to occupy and colonize Palestinian land through the construction of Jewish only settlements, the Wall in the West Bank, and the collective punishment of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

On Thursday, May 15th from from 12am until 6pm (EDT), “Radio Free Palestine”

will broadcast on these and many other topics concerning the the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people. A complete schedule is available online at http://www.imemc.org or email news@ckut.ca.